TV Writer and Producer Mary Hanes Dies at 59

Mary Hanes, a writer and producer for television and the stage, died Tuesday at her home in Studio City after a long battle with ovarian cancer. She was 59.

Hanes, teaming with husband Ken Hanes, co-executive produced five episodes (and wrote one) of ABC Family’s Make It or Break It, the recently canceled series set in the world of Olympic gymnastics. She also co-developed and exec produced the 1999-2000 series Hope Island for Pax TV and served as a writer-producer on the 2001 WB network series Dead Last.

With her husband, she wrote and exec produced Eden, a 2011 drama pilot for USA Network.

Earlier, the Haneses wrote for the John Waters Court TV series ’Til Death Do Us Part, a roundup of stories about marriages that end with one spouse murdering the other, and Pax TV’s Doc, starring Billy Ray Cyrus. Her writing credits also include Hack, a CBS crime drama toplined by Andre Braugher.

Hanes’ first full-length play, The Crimson Thread, originally was produced for National Public Radio. It received its first regional production at Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury, Conn., had its West Coast premiere at the Pasadena Playhouse and inaugurated a new arena stage at A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle.

Another play, Doin’ Time at the Alamo, won her the New Voice in American Theatre Award from the William Inge Theatre Festival in Independence, Kan., and the Mildred & Albert Panowski Playwriting Award from the Forest Roberts Theatre at Northern Michigan University.

Her sketch comedy show The New Rotics was named best comedy of the year by Los Angeles Weekly.
In addition to her husband of 22 years, Hanes is survived by her parents, Joseph and Margaret; her sisters Janet and Eileen; and her brother Jay.

The family, who is planning a memorial service, asks that donations in Hanes' honor be made to the Women’s Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.